Notre Dame expected to make in-house OC hire

First, it was Kansas State offensive coordinator Collin Klein. Then it was Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, who would have made a ton of sense as offensive coordinator for second-year head coach Marcus Freeman and his Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Talks with both of those coaches fizzled out, and now it's being reported that Notre Dame is looking in-house for its new offensive coordinator. In fact, ESPN is reporting that tight ends coach Gerad Parker is expected to get promoted after a formal interview with Freeman on Tuesday.

"With spring practices about a month away, Notre Dame placed an emphasis on finding a candidate who could quickly install a system and teach it to the staff and players," ESPN reported. "While Parker's obvious familiarity with the players and system was a part of the decision, sources said Parker also impressed Freeman during his interview with ideas of how to make the offense better and possible wrinkles to add."

While Freeman undoubtedly has to feel better now that he's likely replaced Tommy Rees, Notre Dame fans might be feeling a bit worried that the program seems to be "settling" on its third option for the position.

Both Klein and Ludwig were on Notre Dame's campus in the past weeks for in-person interviews. Klein ultimately found it too hard to leave Kansas State, where he was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2012. Ludwig had a buyout at Utah of at least $2 million, and while the Fighting Irish were reportedly willing to pay it -- he ended up flying back to Utah and eventually decided to stay with the Utes.

Parker was a wide receiver for the University of Kentucky from 2000 to 2004. He started his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at Kentucky in 2007 and eventually worked his way up the coaching ladder to be the offensive coordinator at West Virginia in 2021 and 2022.

Originally from Huntington, West Virginia, Parker is 42 years old.